VIDEO Links - Crashes & Extrication

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Video link - CRASHES

Vehicle extrication rescue has grown considerably from the early years. Although the development of power hydraulic tools have had a major impact, it is the initiative taken by Firefighters, Paramedics and, to a significant degree, Doctors that has driven the whole concept forward to what it is today.

Much still waits to be achieved and I am sure that the movers and shakers of rescue will continue to push the boundaries forward but this is largely dependant on how well orchestrated they are. While some fire departments are well equipped others have to get by with much less. Others have developed training and SOP’s to a realistic standard while many remain unenthusiastic, with little or no motivation and subsequently, less proficient in their performance.

The likely results of poor performance can be classified as perceptive; cannot be proven or disproved and leave the perpetrators unaccountable. Take it from me this is how it’s always been and decency has no part in it.

The Extrication Challenge was conceived to promote and develop rescue. A worthwhile achievement that has taken foothold and, as intended, acting as a catalyst it has achieved some notable successes. Unfortunately in recent years the competition has bogged down and seems to have lost its way. What was started by those that actually performed the extrications has been hijacked by the system and eventually over run by intoxicated rules and regulations that bear no resemblance to the real world.

Consequently this has stifled the concept of innovation and  the platform for the sharing of information and extrication evolutions by bringing like-minded Rescuers together. Over reaction to Health & Safety, the perception of risk where there is none; and where a hazard actually exists it is removed along with any learning curve it holds.

Still remaining at ‘first-aid’ level, casualty care has deviated from any practical understanding of what the real world holds for the entrapped, those victims who are dying and most in need of medical intervention.

The interaction of technical and medical rescue, cross platform training and audit is vitally important to the development of crash rescue. People have been dying needlessly and will continue to die needlessly until this initiative is given official recognition.